| |
God’s answer to spirit
hunger
Man’s
spirit feels its orphaned condition. Jesus came to answer this cry of the
spirit, this cry for a Father, this cry for Redemption from the powers that
surround it and hold it in bondage.
The
four gospels are written in the realm of Sense Knowledge. There is no inkling of
the Revelation that God was to give to Paul in any of them.
 | They saw the miracles.
|
| They saw the man Jesus
arrested.
|
| They saw Him tried in court.
|
| They heard the sentence
pronounced upon Him.
|
| They saw Him go with the
soldiers, bearing His Cross to the death hill -
Golgotha
.
|
| They saw Him nailed to the
cross.
|
| They saw the cross lifted up
and dropped into its socket.
|
| They saw the blood dripping
from the wounds in His hands and feet.
|
| They heard Him cry, "My
God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken me?"
|
| They could see the nails
holding His trembling body on the tree.
|
| They saw Him die.
|
But.
. .
| they could not see the tragedy
in His soul.
|
| They could not see His spirit
made sin.
|
| They could not see the spirit
leave the body and go to the place of suffering under the dominion of the
Black Prince.
|
| They could not see Him as He
suffered until the claims of Justice were met.
|
| They could not see Him when He
was justified, having paid the penalty of man's transgression.
|
| They could not see Him when He
became the First Born out of Death. This was the birth of His spirit out of
spiritual death.
|
| They could not see Him when He
met the adversary, conquered him, and stripped him of his authority.
|
| They could not see Him until
He came back to His body and imparted immortality to it, bursting the bars
of death and standing before them absolute Master of satan, death, and the
grave.
|
He
had to say, "Come,
handle me, a spirit hath not flesh and bones," before their
Senses could grasp the fact of His Resurrection.
He
ate the fish and bread in their presence to prove that He had risen from the
dead.
He
appeared among them for forty days, then, from
Mt.
Olivet
, He ascended, and an angel host convoyed Him to the throne of God where He sat
down at the Father's right hand as our Mediator, Intercessor, Advocate, and
Lord.
On
the ground of this work, unseen by human eye, not felt by human Senses, but
given to us in the Revelation to the Apostle Paul - on the ground of this, man's
spirit can be Recreated, set free from the thralldom that has held him through
the ages.
This
remarkable thing is called a New Birth. I know of no title that is so
suggestive.
You
accept Jesus Christ as your Savior, confess Him as your Lord; and God recreates
you, imparts to your spirit His very nature. Your spirit now is Made Alive in
Christ. You become a New Creation, created in Christ Jesus. Now the benefits of
it are imparted to you.
| Now your spirit can fellowship
God.
|
| Now your spirit can enjoy
something that your mind, the child of your Senses, cannot grasp.
|
We
come to the next phase of this miracle thing.
| Your mind, which had been
dominated by the Senses, receiving all of its knowledge through the nerve
centers, is being renewed through the Word so that it is coming into
fellowship with your recreated spirit.
|
| Your spirit is gaining the
ascendancy over your thinking faculties. Your Senses are taking their proper
place. You put the crown upon your spirit. Your spirit becomes the master of
your being. Previously your physical body had been the master. By this New
Birth, your spirit comes into its own.
|
| You are not living by Sense
Knowledge, but you are living by the Word of God. Jesus' Words, "Man shall not live by bread alone, but
by every Word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God," are
becoming a reality. You say, "Thy
Word is more precious than my necessary food."
|
| You feast on the Word, you
meditate on it until it becomes a part of your very being. The most
miraculous thing about it is that your intellect may not be fruitful when
you read from some sections of the scripture, and yet, your spirit feeds
upon it, and you become strong and vigorous in your spirit life as a result.
|
| |
|
